Matt Allred: The Elevator Careers Podcast Journey
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Intro:
This episode is a special milestone: our 100th episode! This time, I got to switch seats and be the guest interviewed by Brad Hoersten. We talked about my journey into the elevator industry, and what inspired me to start the podcast. We dive into what makes this industry feel like family, the challenges and rewards of creating the show memories from the past 100 episodes and what’s ahead as we strive to inspire the next generation of elevator careers.
Summary:
Matt Allred, host of the Elevator Careers Podcast, celebrates the 100th episode with guest-host Brad Hoersten. Matt shares his journey from HR to elevator recruiting, highlighting the industry’s unique culture and community. He discusses the podcast’s inception, driven by his passion for understanding the elevator industry. Matt reflects on the challenges and rewards of producing 100 episodes, including the initial struggles and the support from industry leaders like Don Gelestino. The podcast aims to inspire the next generation and foster connections within the industry. Future plans include expanding the Tools and Tech series and hosting panel discussions on industry topics.
Transcript:
Matt Allred (00:00)
If I’m gonna work in elevators, I really only wanna work in elevators because I want to be all in. And that’s when I, about the time I started thinking about wanting to do a podcast because I wanted to get to know people better than just, hey, do you want a new job? No, I’m That’s not super fulfilling from a conversation. I wanna get to know who are these people? Why do they love it so much? What is it that…
that they’re so passionate about? Because this is exciting to me.
Brad (01:36)
Matt, welcome to the show. I’m excited to guest host your 100th podcast episode. And today you are the guest. So welcome.
Matt Allred (01:49)
Thank you. I’m excited, grateful that you’re willing to guest host. I’ve had several people ask, when are you gonna be interviewed? So I’m like, this is probably as good a time as any. Thank you for being willing.
Brad (02:03)
Absolutely. So as the host, I want to start by asking the same question that you ask everyone, which is, how did you get into the elevator industry?
Matt Allred (02:13)
Yeah, that’s a great question. 20 years ago, I was an HR guy and then I jumped out. What was it? 18 years ago, I jumped out of corporate America, and got into recruiting, which is what I wanted to do. And actually it happened to be a cold call to one of the major elevator companies that, kind of hit it off with the chief people officer and, you know, we need help, but we don’t need help in manufacturing, which is a lot of what I was doing right then, working in just a variety of.
manufacturing companies and we need help in the field. Can you do that? Of course. And
the while I’m asking myself, what does that mean? What does in the field mean? And, it didn’t take long for me to start on those searches, start talking to elevator people. And I’m like, okay, something is very different here. This is, I mean, I was recruiting for aerospace, automotive, food, chemicals all over, you know, different industries. And I’m like, okay, what?
What is it that’s so different? This is really cool. I really like this. So that was my first leap into elevators and honestly, I’ve never looked back.
Brad (03:15)
So wait, just for clarity, so you only recruit for the elevator industry? I think that’s…
Matt Allred (03:20)
Correct, yeah, so for several years I worked only with that company, like seven or eight years, and then they had some changes, and my contact there retired. And it was like, okay, we don’t need your help as much, so I worked for another major for a time, but more and more I was really being drawn into elevators. I’m like, this is where I want to be, and so yeah, for the past several years, it’s all we do, is focus on the elevator industry.
Brad (03:46)
Very cool. So since this is a podcast episode about your podcast, let’s focus on that a little bit. So what caused you to start this elevator podcast?
Matt Allred (03:58)
Yeah. So I think honestly when I started to realize, okay, this is a special place. these are, just the culture is different. The community is different. Everything everything about elevator space is so different from all of these other industries that I had worked in. And making, you know, new relationships, new acquaintances and I’m like, okay, I want to, I want to learn more about this. And so as I continued to dive into that and that’s really
about the time I realized, If I’m gonna work in elevators, I really only wanna work in elevators because I want to be all in. And that’s when I, about the time I started thinking about wanting to do a podcast because I wanted to get to know people better than just, hey, do you want a new job? No, I’m good. Okay, bye. I mean, that’s like, okay, That’s not super fulfilling from a conversation. I wanna get to know who are these people? Why do they love it so much? What is it that…
that they’re so passionate about? Because this is exciting to me. And it kind of drew me in. Yeah, as I started thinking about, okay, let’s do a podcast, right? Let’s have these conversations. I remember calling my brother, he is a cowboy. He got all the cowboy genes. He’s a cattle rancher in Oregon. And I was telling him about it. I’m like, hey, Greg, I think I want to do this, but I am scared spitless. And he was like, if you think you want to do it, if you feel like, you know, that’s a desire, you need to do it. And if you don’t, I’m going to come down there to Georgia. I’m going kick your butt.
I was like, all right, gotta do it.
Brad (05:20)
Thank
So you’re on your 100th episode now. So when you meet someone at a bar or whatever and they ask, what do you do for work? Do you say that you are an elevator recruiter or an elevator podcaster?
Matt Allred (05:36)
So that’s a great question. A lot of times I’ll say I’m an elevator recruiter and podcaster. And they’re like, what? What does that mean?
Brad (05:47)
So when you started this, did you think you would get to 100 episodes?
Matt Allred (05:53)
Honestly,
I never even I’ve never even thought about the number of episodes. Honestly, it wasn’t really until my editor brought it up. She’s like you realize you’re approaching a hundred episodes. I’m like I never really thought about it. I mean, I love the conversations, right? I still enjoy it every single time, getting to know the people, getting know their story. So no, it never never even crossed my mind that would that we’d be talking about a hundredth episode.
Brad (06:17)
Okay, that’s a big milestone. So walk me through kind of the journey to get here. What was that like?
Matt Allred (06:25)
I mean, there’s a lot that goes into that, right? mean, one episode at a time. And I remember in the early days, I didn’t have an editor, right? I was doing it all on my own. I was trying to learn how to do it. And I was even asking myself like, is this just stupid? Am I gonna fall on my face and be embarrassed that I even tried? And so I called some contacts, some clients, some people that I really respected in the industry. And I was like,
Would you even listen? Would you even want this? Oh no, that sounds good. Okay, well, here’s the million dollar question. Would you be willing to be a guest? Yeah, yeah, I’ll be on it. Like, okay. So I had enough of those conversations. It was like, okay, I’ve got some willing participants. If I’m willing to stand up, they’re at least willing to go there with me. And I think that was a huge step in initially just getting out the gate. Obviously, I learned pretty quick that, okay, I don’t need to be…
creating it and editing it and doing all that, I just couldn’t. So I had to bring somebody else on and that’s been super helpful to have the editor and not have to worry about that.
Brad (07:28)
Yeah, so you mentioned the editor. I think most people probably don’t realize, I certainly I didn’t. I was a guest on one of your previous podcast episodes, and I learned a lot about what goes into a podcast episode. But you mentioned the editor. So can you, for people that aren’t aware, what like, walk us through everything from booking a guest to the recording, the editing, publishing. What are all the things that you do? What’s the process?
Matt Allred (07:55)
Yeah, yeah.
I mean, the, the biggest thing, first thing is to get buy-in, right? Hey, would you, would you want to tell your story, right? That’s a fascinating story. I’m glad that you told me that or wow, you have a really unique approach. Would love to talk to you about that, and then just getting the buy-in. And then from there, it’s, I think it’s not as difficult as it was in the early days. I’ve gotten used to it. I’ve done it a few times, right? But it’s like, hey, let’s set up a time to kind of talk about.
Go in depth to your story, right? What are the key points? What were the key decisions that you made? And let’s make sure that we capture those in the interview. And then once we kind of have a, I don’t script it out, right? But I do like to have certain questions or certain, this is where we want to go. And then it’s just a matter of getting on and let’s record it. Let’s hope for the best and recognize that if we need to cut something, we can, but
We don’t end up cutting a lot, honestly. A lot of it is just, hey, let’s just keep it real and raw and go with it.
Brad (08:57)
When you were doing it all yourself, how much effort goes into one episode? So there’s at least an hour in the recording itself. I mean, you’ve done 100 of these. How many hours of effort can we say goes into each one times 100?
Matt Allred (09:12)
Oh, that’s hard to say. I mean, each one, there’s a good hour of
the pre-podcast conversation on call. And then
itself, the recording. But
before that,
intros, recording. This episode is, so-and-so spoke with me. And I feel like we’ve streamlined that a bit, right?
But I remember in the early days, it was hard and I wanted to make sure that everybody was good with, okay, here’s what I’m going to say about you. And, so I remember stressing, right? Trying to get one episode out and it’s like, Hey, Monday, I want to get it out at like 1pm. And I couldn’t get ahold of the person. And I finally tracked them down. Like, are you good with this? Got the nod, but it was just. Ton of stress, especially in the early days. And I tried to stay ahead and a lot of people will know that, if you’ve been a guest, you know that.
It’s not gonna come out the next week. It might be a couple of months, right? Because I want to have enough content because there was another time when I was, due to have something and the people that had said they would be on, couldn’t make it, you know, hey, I had to have a change of plans. I’m going out of the country or whatever. And so I was going through my Rolodex and, who do I know that I could call on? And that’s honestly, and that’s been one of the amazing things about this industry.
is how many people are willing to talk,
share their stories. And not that everybody’s free of all fear. We’ve had, definitely those that are like, yeah, this is kind of scary, but I’m willing and I want to. And I think I just really respect those who are willing to stand up and say, yeah, let’s talk about what I’ve learned and what I’ve done. And hopefully this helps someone.
Brad (10:50)
Out of all the episodes you’ve had, is there a particular one that stands out?
Matt Allred (10:56)
I mean, I think the one that sticks out in my mind the most was the first one, right? I was, yeah, a lot of anxiety, like, what am I doing? Right, is this gonna be totally stupid? But Don Gelestino has always been a big supporter, right? And he was one of the ones that I reached out to and I said, Don, would this make sense? Right, does anybody wanna hear this? And yeah, would you be willing? Of course, right? Did a great job and it was just awesome to have.
the support and have somebody like Don be able to tell his amazing story. yeah, and it went, it went over really well, better than I thought. And I’m like, okay, okay, I can do this.
Brad (11:32)
That’s awesome. That’s not surprising to hear about Don at all. I’ve had a similar, similar experience with him as well. So, has hosting the podcast changed anything maybe that you’ve learned or changed the way you think about the industry?
Matt Allred (11:47)
I think for me, in a lot of ways it’s maybe made it, I wouldn’t say smaller, but I feel like I know more people, right? I’ve had an opportunity to talk to a lot of people that maybe they’ve seen an episode or they know me. And so I’m like, let me get to know you, right? Let’s talk about you. It’s
It’s definitely made my work more enjoyable, I think, right? Just getting to know people at a deeper level helps me make a better connection with them. And I think in that regard, even my work as a recruiter, right? It’s not just about, making a placement and getting paid. It’s like, no, I want to make a connection. And so a lot of times, I’ll make connections without even any thought of, you know, pay. It’s more like, hey, you need to know so and so.
Because this guy thinks like you do and I was very impressed with this conversation. So I think of myself as a connector as much as anything.
Brad (12:35)
⁓ no, that’s awesome. I want to go back to, you know, as we were talking before, you get a lot of feedback from people that actually listen to the podcast via email, text message. I think there’s also you send a monthly email out. A lot of people reply to that and give you feedback. And then you also mentioned that you bump into people in person sometimes that are fans of the podcast. So can you share some of the feedback that you’ve gotten from some listeners on the podcast?
Matt Allred (13:01)
Yeah, absolutely. I mean, honestly, one of the most frequent pieces of feedback is just thank you. And it always touches my heart. It’s like, just to be appreciated. It’s awesome. I do get, several, I wouldn’t say it’s every single time, but it’s pretty frequent that I get thank you for what you’re doing. It’s making a difference. It’s making a difference to me. And, some very specific feedback. I mean, just I think it was just last week, got an email from a gentleman who said, hey, love what you’re doing.
And I’m not, I’m not going to, share his whole message. It was actually a little longer than I thought, but he said, listen, I started in the industry and spent a few years and then there was a layoff and some things happened, and I had to leave. He said, I’ve been listening to your podcast and I find it so inspiring, I’m making plans right now to get back in the industry because it reminded me how much I loved it. The passion I had for it, the excitement that was in my life every day. And I just, I just really haven’t had that since, since I left. And so I’m coming back and wow, that’s cool.
And there was another gentleman who he had said to he was actually from, from out of the country, right? But he was in the US trying
and is, right? Leading a business and selling and connecting. He’s like, I started listening because I wanted to get to know people in the industry and you’re like introducing me to them one after the other. And so as soon as you would do that, well, I would connect to them online. I felt like I already knew them, and boom, I could almost jump into a conversation with them because I’d heard
their story and I felt like it was safe. I could just go ahead and connect on LinkedIn and start talking.
Brad (14:27)
So I can say from firsthand as someone who’s previously been a guest on your podcast that it brings in a lot of attention and brings people reaching out to me. Do you think that it’s influencing people to either stay or come into the elevator trade?
Matt Allred (14:43)
I hope so. I mean, that’s one of the topics that comes up all the time is just that we need to attract the next generation. We need to attract those who are good with their hands and they’re sharp. There does seem to be a large number, especially baby boomers, right? They’re retiring. Hey, had my 40, 50, whatever years in.
I’m ready to go. I’m ready to retire. Are we getting enough people coming in with that same kind of drive?
Obviously you can’t just replace 50 years of experience, but if you can get the right DNA coming in, that are willing to learn and they’re hungry and I really hope that we’re getting some of those folks to listen or maybe grandma will hear it and share it with them or something so that they start to say, yeah, that’s a place I’d like to learn more about, right, that industry.
Brad (15:32)
Walk me through that because at the end of the day, you’re catering to the listener. So what is your goal with the listeners of the podcast and what are you hoping that they get out of it?
Matt Allred (15:44)
No, that’s a great question. I mean, yes, I’m catering to the listener in a way and maybe, and I’m not trying to be selfish, right? But I love what I do, right? So I definitely, there’s a huge part of me that does it because I love the conversation. But I do hope, and I ask, I think pretty much every single guest, like what is something valuable you’ve learned or what’s a lesson, maybe you tripped and landed on your face and then you learned something. Well, can we share that with everybody else? Because if we can learn from each other,
then that’s hugely beneficial. And I think there’s a part of it too that whatever it is, right? And there’s a lot of different pieces and maybe we’ll even talk about this, right? There’s a lot of pieces that make this industry special. Can we keep ahold of that, right? Can we continue to build it, foster it, nurture it so that we don’t just lose it or let it walk away and go, ⁓ that was fun 20 years ago and now it sucks. I mean, I don’t think any of us want to look back and miss
what it is that made this such a special industry or what attracted me when I first started working on these searches, I’m like, okay, what is this? Why is this different? And so I’m hoping to help preserve that.
Brad (16:57)
Definitely. So we’ve talked a lot about how you’ve gotten to this 100th episode milestone. But what about what’s next? What’s the plan for the podcast for the future? And I guess maybe what’s the plan for the recruiting side as well?
Matt Allred (17:12)
Yeah, that’s a great question. Those are, that’s a big question. So podcast wise, as you know, right, because you were the very first of the Elevator Tools and Tech we’re calling it a series, right? It’s almost, it’s a separate podcast within a podcast as it were, but we want to continue to build that out. We want to continue to give companies a chance to talk about what they’re doing, right? You were launching new software
from the feedback, it sounds like it.
It really helped you get the message out, get, people’s awareness that, this is coming, come to a demo. Right. And, and so that’s been exciting
have
- Yeah. I do want to, to get that out. I do want to be able to talk about what I’m doing. We definitely want to continue to, build on careers. I also, as I’ve talked to more people, it’s like, Hey, we can, we can do more, to educate. We can do more to inform. We can do more to.
So we have had recently, they haven’t gone live yet, but we’ve had a few more, just, we can call them a panel discussion, right? But three or four people, and let’s talk about a topic or an issue or something that maybe we’re all wrestling with it. Are there ways to kind of make a, I’ve got a friend that leads mastermind groups, right? And in a way, you get a few people together, it almost becomes a mastermind group and you’re kind of inspiring each other. And so the hope is, that we can…
continue to improve all across the industry and help drive that, right? don’t know exactly, I guess, where it’s gonna go as much as we wanna continue and we’re loving what we do.
Brad (18:43)
I think maybe just for the other suppliers that are out there, the Tools and Tech series is definitely helpful. So what Matt is talking about is he had me on and he’s had other suppliers on to talk about the technology or what they’re supplying to elevator companies. And it was really helpful for me to explain the problem that I’m solving, how we do it.
If you’re a supplier in the industry, you should definitely reach out to Matt and get your story out there. Explain what you do, what problems you solve for elevator companies, because it was really helpful for me.
Matt Allred (19:18)
What’s amazing about that,
It was folks like you, right? But it was hey, can we use this platform to get the word out, right? And so for that, in that regard, right, it could be a company, could be informational or educational or whatever. Let’s use this platform to inform, to send information out there.
I’m just pleased to have the platform. I’m grateful that it exists. I guess just thinking back, I mean you were one of the first fans from the get-go, which is part of the reason I wanted to invite you to do the interview today, because I think I had like one or two episodes out, three and a half plus years ago. And you were like, hey, I want to talk to you about advertising. And at the time, again, because I was doing editing and everything, I was just so overwhelmed. And I was like, I don’t even know how to think about that. I don’t have…
room in my brain. So obviously it didn’t go anywhere, but you fast forward a few years and it’s like, all right, let’s revisit that. And I think in a way, you maybe it’s a little bit like, Kevin Costner in the Field of Dreams, right? If you build it, somebody’s going to want to, hey, can we share this? And so why not? Let’s, if it’s going to benefit somebody, let’s do it.
Brad (20:29)
Totally agree. And Matt, I’m still a fan of the podcast and so happy to host it. So thanks for having me, but I’ll end it in kind of the same way that you ended for me. If you could just let suppliers, recruiters and potential guests on the podcast know how to get in touch with you to set up to be part of the podcast, to do a Tools and Tech, or for recruiting stuff.
Matt Allred (20:33)
You
Brad (20:56)
How can they reach out to you? What are the steps for that?
Matt Allred (20:58)
Yeah, thank you. I mean, you can definitely go to allredgroup.com. It’s also elevatorcareers.net also will take to
podcast page on our website. look me up on LinkedIn, of course, and send me a note. And yeah, I would love to chat with anybody that’s interested.
Brad (21:15)
Cool, Matt, well, congrats on the 100th episode. It’s a pleasure to be the guest host and to get to interrogate you a little bit. So thanks for having me and I’ll see you soon.
Matt Allred (21:26)
Yeah.
Thank you. Thank you, Brad. I appreciate it, and yeah. Here’s to 100 more.
Brad (21:33)
Thanks, Matt.